The Frankfurt criminal justice authorities have now dropped a lawsuit brought by former DFB advisor Kurt Diekmann against then-President Fritz Keller and his office manager Samy Hamama. Diekmann accused the two of violating trade secrets because they had gained access to the communications consultant’s accounts in the DFB. An invoice later appeared on ZDF.
The prosecutors see no violation in the fact that the president wanted to see bills: Rather, the actions of Keller and Hamamas led to the discovery of a possible crime. Diekmann’s DFB contract has been under investigation for months because of suspected infidelity.
Assumption: campaign against certain DFB officials
The decision also contains guidelines for further proceedings. Because the authority regards Diekmann’s ad as an instrumentalization of criminal justice. She explains: “One would think that undesirable officials or executives of the DFB should be publicly denounced and thus gotten out of the way.”
That is the prevailing suspicion. This statement shatters the arguments of the former DFB leadership around Vice Rainer Koch, Treasurer Stephan Osnabrügge and General Secretary Friedrich Curtius, who always sold Diekmann’s 372,000 euro paid work as media support in dealing with a marketing partner.
Keller announces legal action against Diekmann
The DFB announced that it had not participated in these criminal proceedings, and that the agent had sued as a private individual. That’s amazing. Because Diekmann’s ad was based on information that had been passed to him from the DFB leadership. In this case, the association itself repeatedly requested access to the files as a “damaged witness”. In addition, the DFB sent the authorities internal files and offered more.
The DFB rejects the public prosecutor’s critical assessments as “not further justified” – and is now even defending the position of the advertiser, who allegedly only acted as a private person. The DFB sees no reason to investigate the matter. But the next trouble is already rolling: Keller and Hamama announced legal action against Diekmann and the client on Monday. The question to be investigated is to what extent the DFB had been damaged – the public prosecutor’s office also raised this issue in its decision.